Temperature conditions cause fluctuations to occur in the stress on cells such as cells serving as biological samples. Therefore some type of temperature regulation is required in most cases when transporting samples such as cells. Demands are made for example to transport cells at 36° C. which is higher than normal outdoor temperatures and close to body temperature. There are multiple types of culture vessels for holding cells and certain shipping methods must be used according to the shape of the culture vessel. Cells typically tend to adhere to the bottom of the culture vessel, and culture vessel shapes are in dish or plate shapes. In the case of suspended cells, the cells float while suspended in the culture solution and a tube-shaped container is used to ship these suspended cells. This tube container is a vertically long structure. If this tube container is placed horizontally during shipping, then the culture medium adheres to the lid of the culture contained and becomes a likely cause of biological contamination. The culture vessel must therefore be maintained in a suitable position during shipping according to the vessel shape. Tube type culture vessels must be maintained in a vertical (standing) position.
Heat storage materials have been reported containing hydrocarbons (paraffin, etc.) that induce a phase transition from a liquid to a solid state at approximately 36° C. (See JP-A-2006-232331, for example.).
Methods in the related art for controlling the temperature of the liquid phase substance include a technique for installing a magnetically rotated agitator in the container holding the fluid (See for example JP-A-1999-113560.). In this technique, an agitator is affixed in the container holding the fluid substance, the agitator magnetically rotated to induce an agitating current, for supplying a uniform culture medium.